100 



The Cypresses 



3. MENDOCINO CYPRESS Cupressus pygmaea (Lemmon) Sargent 



Cupressiis Goveniana pygmcca Lemmon 



This very local tree is known only in a small sandy, fire-swept barren near 

 the coast of Mendocino county, CaHfomia, where it occurs in very crowded 

 thickets as a shrub, fruiting when scarcely i meter tall, but in protected places 

 and the margins of ravines it becomes a tree 9 meters high, with a trunk diameter 

 of 3 dm. 



The trunk is short ; the branches are rather stout and upright. The bark is 

 about 6 mm. thick, shallowly fissured into fiat ridges, separating on the surface 



into long, narrow scales. The twigs are 

 ascending, comparatively stout, bright 

 reddish brown, becoming purpHsh, and 

 finally reddish brown. The leaves are 

 dark green, ovate, sharp-pointed, 1.5 to 

 3 mm. long, appressed, spreading at the 

 sharp-pointed apex, thickened and with- 

 out glands on the back; on young or 

 vigorous twigs they are taper-pointed. 

 The staminate flowers are sHghtly 

 4-angled, the stamens with broad peltate 

 connectives. The pistillate flowers are 

 composed of 6 to 10 spreading ovate- 

 oblong scales. The cone is usually ses- 

 sile, globose-oblong, 12 to 20 mm. long, 

 dull grayish brown, composed of 6 to 10 

 Fig. 75. Mendocino Cypress. gcales, their nearly flat tops with a small 



projection; seeds black, compressed, about 3 mm. long. 

 The wood is soft, coarse-grained, and brown. 



4. MACNAB CYPRESS Cupressus Macnabiana A. Murray 



Cupressus Nabiana Masters 



This, one of the most local CaHfomia trees, is known only from dry hills and 

 mountain slopes in the northern part of that state. Its maximum height is 9 

 meters, with a trunk diameter of 4 dm.; often, however, it is a many stemmed 

 shrub, about 3 meters tall. 



The trunk is short, the branches more or less crooked, forming an irregular 

 tree. The bark is thin and somewhat regularly broken into broad, fiat, connected 

 ridges of a dark reddish brown color, the surface separating into long, thin, per- 

 sistent scales. The twigs are slender, smooth, Hght purplish red, becoming dark 

 brown. The leaves are dark green, ovate, about 1.5 mm. long, tightly appressed, 

 rounded or sharp-pointed at the apex, convex and glandular on the back : on vig- 



